


Calculated

by TakingOverMidnight3482



Series: Think Outside the Love Square [10]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Identity Reveal, Other, gabriel agreste mentioned, im on a nino kick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 02:10:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18511780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TakingOverMidnight3482/pseuds/TakingOverMidnight3482
Summary: “All right,” Nino managed, and his earphones were suddenly encircling Plagg where he sat. “Whose Kwami are you and why are you here?”Plagg shimmied out from between the headpiece and twisted in mid-air to look at Nino, suddenly not so sure about this risk. The moment Nino saw him, his shoulders stiffened and his eyes widened. “Dude. You’re-”“Plagg. Chat Noir’s Kwami, yes."





	Calculated

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Part 10! Clearly I've been enjoying writing for Nino lately lol. 
> 
> Don't worry: I have another set coming up soon. It'll be posted on My Kitchen by Tuesday at the latest. Ft. Alya and Chloe, this time.

For better or for worse, Plagg was the more impulsive of the main Kwamis. This risk he was taking now, however, was calculated. Worthy of even Wayzz, though he was sure that the turtle would yell at him about how “impulsive” what he was doing now was later.

He peeked around the street sign he was hiding behind, eyeing the bobbing heads of passerby carefully. He was searching for one person in particular, one – there.

Plagg glanced around, making sure no one was looking up (not that humans ever were – they spent their whole lives looking down) before he bolted for the bright red hat across the road. Earphones pulled up, head nodding along to a song, Plagg zipped towards Nino at a hurried pace, keeping just above everyone’s heads and trying to blend into the brickwork of the apartment buildings on the block.

Nino turned a corner, edging towards the wall to get out of the way of a mother and her baby stroller, and Plagg saw his opening. He dove, making sure to pass Nino’s line of sight, and slipped into the boy’s shirt collar so fast he was certain no one but Nino had seen him.

Sure enough, Nino’s hand flew up to clutch at his throat, and Plagg pressed his paw against the skin, reassuring him that he had indeed seen him. He knew Nino had met Wayzz and Trixx – now it was a matter of seeing if he’d put two and two together.

Nino was smart. His hand pulled back and gripped his backpack strap, and his pace quickened. Plagg lowered down until he was just barely peeking out from the shirt collar. Two more crosswalks, a left turn, and then Nino was sliding into an alley and crossing behind a grouping of dumpsters. Recycling bins, probably, seeing as they didn’t smell nearly as much as trash would.

“All right,” Nino managed, and his earphones were suddenly encircling Plagg where he sat. “Whose Kwami are you and why are you here?”

Plagg shimmied out from between the headpiece and twisted in mid-air to look at Nino, suddenly not so sure about this risk. The moment Nino saw him, his shoulders stiffened and his eyes widened. “Dude. You’re-”

“Plagg. Chat Noir’s Kwami, yes,” Plagg said, trying for smug. It faltered and he sighed, tail flicking. “I…he needs your help. And I wouldn’t come to you if it wasn’t important.”

He dragged his tail around, twisting it in his paws as Nino spoke again, his head tilting. “Why me, dude? Why not Ladybug?”

Plagg wrinkled his nose. “Ladybug and Chat Noir have to choose to reveal their identities to each other. I wouldn’t be able to ask her for help even if I was allowed. The other Kwami’s, though-”

“Wait, wait, hold up, dude,” Nino said, waving both hands in the air in a ‘Stop’ motion. “You’re saying…what, I’m about to find out who Chat Noir is?”

Plagg nodded, slow, and Nino backed against the wall, dragging his hands up to his head and pulling his hat off, holding it in the air by the brim while he stared at the ground, wide eyed. “If you’re okay with it that is,” Plagg assured him. “Look, I…I don’t have a lot of time, Nino, he-”

“Is he in trouble?” Nino asked, and suddenly his gaze was intense, fiery, and Plagg bit back a smile.

“In a means, yeah,” Plagg confirmed. “He’s in a situation and…and he needs to leave. Now. I couldn’t stay because it would have put me at risk.”

Nino put his hat back on and nodded. “Okay. Okay, where am I going? What do I have to do?”

Plagg gnawed on his lip. “I need you…to take him in for a while. Take…us in. It’s why I made the decision to tell you. Who he is.”

Nino nodded again, holding out a hand. Plagg drifted down to it and Nino settled him on the brim of his hat. “Okay. How do I explain housing a stranger to my mom and dad?”

“He’s not a stranger.”

Nino had been about to walk back to the sidewalk, but he stopped abruptly. Stood still in place. His head tilted down, and Plagg saw his hand lift to cover his mouth. “So I…know him, then,” Nino said, and his voice crackled.

“Yes.”

“Why do I need to house him?”

“His father is Hawkmoth.”

“Holy shit.”

Nino stopped asking, then, and broke into a light jog, heading in the right direction without needing to ask. Plagg slipped back against his hat, holding tight, sinking against the fabric and trying to look inanimate.

The Agreste mansion seemed…big when Plagg wasn’t pulling up to it in a limo. Daunting. Nino approached the monitor system with a tremble in his step and his hands. His finger missed the buzzer twice, and Plagg took the opportunity to duck under his hat into the dark.

He heard Nathalie’s voice, Nino’s request to enter and ask about science homework. The gates opened, or at least Plagg assumed they did, based on Nino’s jaunt, and then the doors were shutting behind them. Up the stairs, down the hall, to the left.

“Nino? What are you – oof.”

Plagg slipped back out of the hat to find Nino pulling Adrien into a tight hug. Adrien was clinging back, his shoulders shaking. His eyes landed on Plagg and he stiffened, a gasp falling from his lips, but Nino only pulled him tighter, hand rubbing circles over his spine.

“He won’t let me out,” Adrien whispered, croaked. “You both know that.”

Plagg sank onto Adrien’s unoccupied shoulder and Nino shook his head. “We’ll find a way. I swear, we’ll figure it out, dude. I’ll be here for it. For you.”

Plagg didn’t care anymore if Tikki or Wayzz yelled at him, or even if Fu or Marinette did. It may have been a calculated risk, but it was necessary. Now more than ever, Plagg was sure of it.


End file.
